We all know that the current Covid-19 shenanigans have been taking a toll on many businesses. Many businesses are winding their windows, while a handful are experiencing unimaginable profits.
Amidst the crisis, many businesses are definitely badly affected. While many businesses are quiet, some take the opportunity to upgrade themselves, springing back to business, ready to tackle the new decade face on.
Digitalisation is basically integrating technologies to automate or to make your business processes easier and smoother to run.
Read on as we discuss what you can do to Upgrade and Digitalise your business.
Use a Digital Accounting/Invoicing system
Many Small-Medium Businesses in Singapore are guilty of using the somewhat Legacy way of creating invoices. They would use Excel or Word to generate the invoice, before printing it out and filing it. At the end of every financial year, the file would then be submitted to their accountants.
There is not a right or wrong way of doing accounting, but that is just not efficient. Efficiency aside, it is bad for the environment as well. Imagine the time spent doing filing, managing each and every invoice. What would you do if your files were burnt? Or if you accidentally unfasten the files, spilling invoices everywhere?
The 2020 way of doing accounting is to use a Digital Accounting System. It allows you to create, download, send and manage your invoices. Some systems even allow you to create quotations and view your Revenue, profit, enter expenses and even generate yearly income reports.
A great benefit of using such systems is that you can access it from anywhere you are. On your laptop or mobile phone. It will always be with you and synchronised.
There are many such systems available online. A few are listed below:
- Enchant Invoicing – Contact us for more information.
- Xero – A very popular option
- FreshBooks
- Odoo – Open Source, but hard to configure
Use Google My Business
Google My Business is totally free to use. It gives your business more exposure on the Google Search Engine. When someone types in your business name onto Google, it will show a box on the right-hand side of the screen.
By searching up your business name, your customers or a potential lead will be able to find crucial information about your business such as your office or shop’s address, website, reviews and also operational hours.
You are also able to add phone numbers and photos.
If you know how to configure Google My Business properly, you can even add Products to the bar as well.
Adding your businesses also improves your website’s SEO as it tells Google that your website belongs to a legit business in Singapore.
Use a CRM
The usage of a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) app or software is quickly gaining in popularity. It allows a consolidated platform where your client’s information and data can be stored. It is used to collate products/services acquired by the client from you, customer service records, a track record of interactions and much more.
A CRM will enable you to provide better service for your clients, as it serves as an all in one place to store any information about your client.
Build a web portal
Building a web portal helps to digitalise your business as it automates many processes. Let’s say you run a Physiotherapy clinic and need an appointment booking system. That itself is a web portal or known professionally as a Web Application.
A Web Portal allows you to manage something or a collection of management features. You can create portal users, create a therapist, delete a client etc. Basically it is a software that is built online, so you and your customers can connect to it anywhere, at any time.
You can find out more about what is a web application here.
At Enchant, we understand how important a web application is, to streamline and automate businesses’ processes. We are currently running a Web Application Development promotion where we develop a complete system for only $6,000.
Develop/Redevelop a website
If you don’t already have a website, you should design/develop one, right now. Websites are an important digital asset in 2020. Every business that wishes to reach out to customers online should do it. The internet is a powerful place where information can be shared across the globe within seconds, from anywhere. Just as long as you have access to the internet.
Building a simple website is relatively simple. There are tools such as wordpress.com, Squarespace, Wix and Shopify that allows complete beginners to build websites using a template. If you are feeling adventurous, you can also get your hands dirty with WordPress, which allows for greater customisations.
Building a website with tools such as Squarespace may limit your imagination and abilities, but implementing other more complex features will require some technical knowledge or even coding.
You should look for a Web Developer if you want to get a website professionally done.
Leverage on Digital Marketing
If you already have a website, you should use Digital Marketing such as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Marketing.
SEO usually takes up to a year to see ranking or results. Therefore, given the bad economic state now, instead of wasting precious time away, put it into good use by starting on SEO.
Choose a reputable and reliable SEO agency with a proven track record.
Use Cloud Storage
Google Drive is one of the most popular Cloud Storage providers out in the market, providing up to 15GB of storage space for free, on every account.
Whether it is to share a file or files with your client or to create editable documents, you can do it within Google Drive.
This is a great modern way of transferring documents and files, instead of emailing or other physical mediums such as file transfer via a thumb drive or Compact Disks.
Go for courses
Upgrade your team and yourself. Go for courses such as Management, Coding and Marketing. Pick up a new skill, which may be useful in streamlining your business processes.
Going for a coding class may not only give you a new skill but who knows, you can even create a website by yourself, saving thousands of dollars.
Upgrade now to be more appealing
It is now the perfect time to upgrade and digitalise your business. With all the extra time now, due to weak demand, use the precious time wisely so that your business can come back stronger and better than ever.
